EMOTIONS & IT’S

COMPONENTS
Group 1
Biological Component:
Physiological component
• Our experience of emotion does not come suddenly. It starts with a state of arousal. A
heightened activity in both our mind and body that make us alert.
• The arousal may be intense or mild depending on the source of arousal.
• Arousal starts in the brain.
• It involves the activation of the Reticular Activation System (RAS), the brain stem, and
the autonomic nervous system.
The Reticular Activation System (RAS)
• Connects the primitive brain stem and the cortex and affects sleeping-waking
transitions.
• From the (RAS), arousal is spread through the autonomic nervous system.
• Emotional arousal is also a process, which means it happens as a sequence over time.
Something triggers an arousal through our senses such as touch, vision, hearing, smell,
and taste.
• During an arousal, the body releases chemicals in the brain that stimulate emotion,
reduce cortical functioning, reduce conscious, and finally, agitation and physical
action.
Cannon-Bard Theory
• Earliest physiological component of emotion theory.
• By Walter Bradford Cannon, an American physiologist and Philip Bard, Cannon’s
doctoral student.
• Cannon-Bard theory states that we feel emotions and experience physiological
reactions such as sweating, trembling, and muscle tension simultaneously.
• Emotions result when the thalamus sends a message to the brain in response to a
stimulus, resulting in a physiological reaction.
For example: I see a snake --> I am afraid, and I begin to tremble.
James-Lange Theory
• American psychologist William James and Danish physiologist Carl Lange. Their two
theories were later combined into what is presently known as the James-Lange Theory
of Emotion.
• The James-Lange theory of emotion states that emotion is equivalent to the range of
physiological arousal caused by external events.
• For someone to feel emotion, he must first experience bodily responses such as
increased respiration, increased heart rate, or sweaty hands. Once this physiological
response is recognized, then the person can say that he/she feels the emotion.
Two Factor Theory
• Offered by Stanley Schachter, an American social psychologist, who worked closely
with Jerome Singer, an American clinical psychologist.
• The Schachter-Singer two-factor theory of emotion is another variation on theories of
emotions that takes into account both physiological arousal and the emotional
experience.
• The Two-Factor Theory which states that the experience of emotion depends on two
factors: the physiological arousal and the interpretation of that arousal.
• The person uses the intermediate environment to search for emotional cue to label
your physiological arousal.
Behavioral Component: Emotional
Expression
• Two American psychologists, Paul Ekman and Carrol Izard.
• They conducted “Universality studies”, demonstrating cross-cultural agreement in
judgements of emotion in faces by people in both literate and preliterate cultures.
• Seven emotions that have universal facial expressions – anger, contempt, disgust, fear,
joy, sadness, and surprise.
MACROEXPRESSIONS
• Typically last between 0.5 to 4 seconds and involve the entire face.
• These are emotions that we do not intend to hide and occur whenever we are alone
or with family and close friends.

MICROEXPRESSIONS
• Are expressions that go on and off the face in a fraction of a second, as fast as 1/30 of
a second.
• In the attempt to conceal emotions, microexpressions can happen so fast that one
cannot recognize or see them easily.
Cognitive Component: Subjective
Labeling
• American physiologist, Richard Lazarus, have shown that the experience of emotion
depends on the manner one appraises or evaluates an event.
• In evaluating an event as good or bad for us , Lazarus suggests two kinds of appraisal:
primary and secondary. In primary appraisal, we consider how a certain situation can
benefit us. In secondary appraisal, we consider how a certain situation can benefit us.
• This is referred as the Lazarus Theory or Appraisal Theory.